


Fault

by PandoraOmega



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Light Angst, Love Confessions, Reader has a palace, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-10 03:02:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17417816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PandoraOmega/pseuds/PandoraOmega
Summary: Akira has disappointed the reader one too many times and now after seeing the consequences of his actions at your expense he finds a way to do right by you.





	Fault

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing fanfic, so I hope you guys like it.  
> I also posted this on my Tumblr.  
> https://theoccationalwriter.tumblr.com/

“I have a lot of things I need to catch up on this week, you know that if could hangout I would, ” Akira said apologetically, rubbing the back of his neck.

 

_Do I though?_

 

The two of you had been walking from school when you asked to hang out sometime with him. Your hopeful smile faded at his response, and this had been the fourth time in a row he had turned you down on plans to spend time together. He had been preoccupied so much recently that you barely even see him at school. He always had something more important to deal with, understandably with his probation and issues at school. And with so many things on his plate, you’d hate to be a cause of stress to him. So, you tried to keep a leveled head and not to take it personally but deep down inside it still hurt.

“Well, when do you think you’ll be free next.”

“Honestly, I’m not sure when, but I’ll let you know when I find out.” He said with half a smile, in an attempt to cheer you up before beginning part ways from you.

You flashed him a quick smile and a wave goodbye, but as soon as you were out of his view, your face had fallen once more. Ever since meeting Akira two months ago, your friendship with him grew quickly as well as your feelings for him. Admittedly, your simple crush on him escalated into something more before you could do anything to stop it. How could it not? Akira's too perfect for his own good. Your heart couldn’t resist his charming personality accompanied by boyish features. As much as you wanted to tell him, you couldn’t bring yourself to burden him with your feelings.

Then on top of that, he honestly had no reason to like you back. Akira had so many other girls in his life that he was better off with. You felt that you couldn’t begin to compare to how beautiful Ann is, how smart Makoto or Futaba are, or even how sweet Haru is. The thought alone pulled at your heartstrings as you furrowed your eyebrows.

Making it home, you put your bag away and threw yourself on your bed, letting out a long sigh feeling the tension in your body ease away for some time. Just as you were slowing dozing off, your phone vibrated in your pants pocket. Pulling out your phone, you looked to see that it was your mom texting you. Letting you know that she’d be working late and asking you to pick up an order she had made earlier at a nearby bakery.

You had quietly chuckled to yourself.

 

_No rest for the weary._

 

By the time you willed yourself to get up off of your comforting bed and head to the local bakery, it was past sunset, and the moon was just barely peeking over the horizon. You waltz in into the small restaurant, the nostalgic smell of warm bread hit your nose and you can’t help but smile. The cashier kindly greeted you as you stepped up to the counter and asked for the order you were sent for. After she brought the box of pastries and rang you up, you when to leave and held the box in one hand and door open with the other hand for an elderly woman who then said a soft thank you and stepped out of the building.

You took one more look inside the bakery, but once you did, you felt your world stop. Your heart fell to the bottom of your chest and the fingers gripping the door ran cold through. The site your eyes had set upon had caused them to start welling up and you had to bite your lower lip to keep back a small sob.

Sitting at a table in the far corner of the shop was Akira, who was tenderly holding Makoto’s right hand sitting across from him. Although, the feeling of defeat didn’t hit you until you glanced at the expression on his face. Relief. Contentment. Love? Akira has never looked at you the way he was looking at Makoto now. And you’re realizing now that the thought and idea of Akira loving someone else did not nearly hurt as much as having it shown right in front of you.

With your body moving on autopilot, you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding in. Then letting go of the grip you had on the door and you left as swiftly as possible. Although for a fleeting second, you swore you saw Akira break his gazed at Makoto and look at you.

 

_Catching up, huh_

 

Your mind was so clouded with thoughts and white noise that you didn’t even notice when you got home and headed to your bedroom. You slid your chilled body under the blanket on your bed and laid your throbbing head on the pillow. Closing your eyes, you felt the tears you tried so hard not to let fall even in the privacy of your room rolling down your cheeks. When you had finally fallen asleep in the wee hours of the morning, all you wished for was to feel anything other than empty hollowness in your chest.

 

~~~~~~~~~

 

To say that Akira had been busy in the past month or so it would have been an understatement. After dealing with school, several jobs, and the metaverse, Akira really had no time to do anything else other than sleep and maybe eat. Having to turn you down again today may have hurt him more than it did you.

When he first came to the school, you were one of the few people who overlooked his criminal record and didn’t listen to the rumors his fellow students spread about him and welcomed him with open arms. Now seeing your sadden face as he canceled on you yet again made him feel guilty beyond belief. Especially since he started to develop romantic feelings for you.  
Now he’s had crushes in the past, but you were different. You made him feel like somebody, and you brought the best out of him. The fact that he can only return your kindness with disappointment tears him up inside. Hearing a chime from his pocket broke him out of his thoughts, and he looked on his phone to see if a text from Makoto, asking to meet him at a bakery nearby for a moment.

Considering that it was reasonably close to a LeBlanc, he decided that he could spare a few minutes and meet her for a quick chat. When he had gotten there, he saw her sitting at a table in a quiet corner of the restaurant looking down at her hands that was nursing a lukewarm cup of cocoa. He then walked over to the booth and sat down across from her.

“Evening Makoto, what’s up,” Akira said to her casually.

“Hey, Akira…” Makoto spoke shakenly, quickly catching Akira’s attention.

When she picked her head up, he had noticed that her eyes were red and puffy. But before he could ask, she began to explain to him the argument she just had with her sister and how it was worse than usual. While she was talking, he had been listening intently, and when her voice hitched, he went to comfort her by holding the hand that was beginning to shake on the table. He started to brush a thumb over the top of her hand and gave her a soft look, after a couple of minutes she began calming down.

A few moments later though, he felt like someone was staring at him from afar, and he flicked eyes up to see the figure of a person near the entrance of the building quickly rush off out of view. He looked at the general area for a couple more seconds before he turned his attention back to his friend. She then noticed the time, “ it’s getting late, I think I should start heading but home.” Akira then nodded in agreement, and they stood up from the table and headed for the door. Makoto then said goodbye one last before turning and walking in the opposite direction.

Akira was definitely tired once he got to LeBlanc and helped Sojiro with some of the last evening customers before closing up for the night. Just as Akira was going to start working on some assignments he got from class today; his phone chimed again. Only this time it was Futaba messaging the whole group.

Futaba: “Guys I just a hit on the Meta Navi, a new palace just showed up tonight. ”

Ryuji: ”What do you guys say, think we should check it out?”

Akira thought for a moment, they had finished their last palace almost a week ago, and he had already restocked on any items or ammo that the team was short on so when the time came they would be prepared. Since that time is right now, he decided that it was safe to go ahead and enter the new palace tonight.

Akira: “Alright, let go and scout out the palace to see what we’ve got our hands on. ”

With that being said the group then proceeded into the Metaverse.

 

~~~~~~~~~

 

Right now Joker couldn’t decide which is worst a scorching desert or bone-chilling tundra, though it didn’t matter which one he chose because right they had to deal with the latter. The thieves were violently shivering as they entered the palace and being inside didn’t seem to lessen the bitter cold at all.

The palace resembled desolate, overgrown ruins of what may have been a temple. Drips fell from the high ceiling into giant puddles of water on the cracked stone tiles. The place was eerily silent other than the howling wind and crunch of colorful broken glass from the shatter windows they were stepping on. It looked as though this place was once enchanting and beautiful at one time.

Joker and Fox quietly observed the torn and weathered-down paintings hanging from the walls. For some reason, the people in the picture looked so familiar.

“Man this s-sucks!” Skull yelled annoyed, his words echoed off the walls as he rubbed his hands together and blew into them.

“Shut up; we don’t know what’s lurking in here” Panther snapped. She was about to say something else, but the faintest of whispers caught the team’s attention.

 

He doesn’t care about us~

 

Everyone took cover and hid against the wall facing away from where the voice came from.

 

_You know it would be a lie if he did~_

 

Joker leaned over to peak around the corner and saw multiple little shadows surrounding the owner of the palace. They were curled up on the ground shaking and quietly sobbing into their hands. Then one shadow with glowing crimson eyes spoke up.

 

_Enough of this all we need is a little loving~_

 

Then they suddenly began to violently tremble, clawing at their chest, and let out a blood-curdling screech. The noise caused the palace to quake, and each thief went to quickly cover their ears. The shadow laughed when the screaming stopped.

“Don’t say that” the person whispered in agony.

Joker’s eyes widen in surprise as he recognized the voice, but couldn’t think of who exactly it belonged to. The shadows and the person continued to bicker back and forth, the shadows constant taunting becoming too much for them to handle. Joker genuinely felt bad for this person as it was apparent that they were more of a harm to themselves than others. He turned to the group, about to signal them to fall back and figure this out from another angle when the shadow said something that had him stop dead in his tracks and look back.

 

_“No one could ever love us, so what made you think Akira would be any different?”_

 

“I… I… I don’t know.”

 

For the first time since the thieves were in the palace, the owner picked her head up and turned looking down at the shadow who asked the question causing her face to be visible to the Phantom Thieves. Joker felt paralyzed; he couldn’t look away from your shadow form. Your whole form was ebony black, and you had glowing (f/c) eyes with silver tear streaks running down your face.  
He was so caught off guard at the site of you; he didn’t react when you caught his gaze. It wasn’t until you gasped that he snapped out of his trance. You looked at him defensively and summoned your shadow personas to fight alongside you.

He didn’t have to fight you, did he? Even though it’s your shadow, he’s honestly not sure if he could fight you. The rest of the thieves noticed Joker’s hesitation in taking a defensive stance and instead decided to grab him and retreat. You made no move to chase after them.

Joker took one look, and he was sure that the look on your face would haunt him for the rest of his life. Your expression held that of nothing but anguish despair and utter hopelessness. And he looked away from your eyes only for them to fall on what you held firmly in your hand. He wasn’t able to see it before, but now softly glowing in your hand was a strip of three Polaroid photos of the both of you together that you had gotten in a photo booth when you guys went to the fair the month prior. Your treasure.

 

~~~~~~~~~

 

Back in the real world, Akira couldn’t stop thinking about your Palace. He couldn’t focus on anything. How could you of all people have a palace? He had thought back to all the months you guys been together, he didn’t recall you showing any signs of evil desires. But then again he hadn’t seen you in a while, something could have happened, but he didn’t know about. That you didn’t tell him, but why wouldn’t you have told him? As far as he knew he’s the only person you were most honest with. The only person you really trusted.

Akira had started pacing around in the attic and running his hand through his hair, trying putting all the pieces together. The people in the paintings, they had looked so familiar almost as if he was looking in a blurry mirror. The whispers about him loving you that shadows have been taunting you with. The palace in itself being cold and broken. And your treasure being something so unique and specific. It all became so clear.

His heart split in two. He didn’t want to believe it, but it was the only reason that made sense. Your Palace was actually about him. You loved him. And he broke your heart. He’s the reason why you have a palace in the first place. It’s his fault. It was all his fault. And the idea that he was the cause of your Palace broke him. He started to tear up, he can’t bear the thought, but he has caused you so much pain. He had to fix this now. Akira wasn’t going to make you wait another moment. He left LeBlanc and ran as fast as his feet would carry him to your house.

The morning Sun was beginning to peer through your window, and you would look at your alarm clock that that read 6:15. Suddenly, frantic knocking caught your full attention, and you realize that the noise is what woke you up. Now, who would be knocking at your door this early in the morning? You slipped on your house shoes and made your way to your front door.

You looked through the peephole and surprised to find Akira standing on the other side of the door. Without a second thought, you swing the door open. You looked up at Akira, and you’re shocked to see how disheveled he looked. His hair was messier than usual, he was sweating and breathing heavily, and his eyes were red and a little puffy as if he was…crying?

“Akira are you-!”, You didn’t get to finish your question has he grabbed you and pulled you into a hug. As surprised as you were, you were still able to melt into his warm embrace. His arms held you tighter to him as if you’re going to disappear if he didn’t. Akira buried his face in your shoulder and was mumbling what only sounded like several apologies one, after the other.

“Akira what has gotten into you?,” You asked as you reluctantly pulled away from him.

“I love you, I’m so sorry that I made you think any different. Please forgive me. You have no idea how much I love everything about you.” Akira said quickly, while holding onto your shoulders you looking you directly in the eyes.

You didn’t know what to say to such a sudden confession and after what you saw yesterday. You looked at Akira’s face, and you noticed how scared and almost desperate he looked. You have never seen that look on Akira’s face, and it was safe to say that no one ever has. You could see that he so desperately wanted you to forgive him for whatever reason you couldn’t think of.

You looked up at him and held both sides of his face in your hands, and your heart couldn’t help but warm up at the sight of his boyish features, you smiled and hummed softly to yourself. He put his hands over yours and smiled down at you with concern and curiosity still in his eyes. You lean forward and press your lips to his, and he slowly closes his eyes and melted into your kiss.

 

_I love you too_


End file.
